Country Centres Thrown A Thin Lifeline
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday September 22, 2001
Several regional NSW towns regained their air services yesterday as a NSW Government loan flowed through to Ansett subsidiary Hazelton Airlines.
Aeropelican also resumed flying after administrators decided it could trade at a profit.
The Transport Minister, Mr Anderson, yesterday announced a $3.5 million loan for Ansett's West Australian subsidiary, Skywest, to restart regional flights.
It is the fifth loan approved for rural and remote areas served only by Ansett or its subsidiaries.
The chief executive officer of Hazelton, Mr Andrew Drysdale, said two planes were flying yesterday, restoring services to Broken Hill, Dubbo, Orange and Griffith.
About 80 out of 315 staff members returned to work.
Mr Drysdale said the Ansett subsidiary had received its own administrator and this, with the $3 million State Government commercial loan, secured on Thursday, had allowed the airline to fly again.
He said the two planes would provide an essential cash flow to the business.
This would allow more planes to be brought back into service, although Mr Drysdale could not say when specific flights would return. The first Hazelton service to resume yesterday was a daily 9am Sydney-Dubbo-Broken Hill flight, followed at 3pm with the first of two Sydney-Orange-Griffith return flights.
The Griffith run will be flown three times a day from today.
Mr Drysdale said while Hazelton was anxious to bring back more services, ``I don't want to take on so much that we trip".
Another Ansett subsidiary, Aeropelican Air Services, also returned to the skies yesterday, with six flights each way on its only route, Sydney-Belmont, from 6.45am.
About 30 of the 40 staff are back at work.
© 2001 Sydney Morning Herald
Share This